Awesome, that’s very close to what I had in mind in terms of hardware.

I’d mostly like to host a lightweight website but perhaps also some communications stuff like xmpp and maybe even email.

How does that work? Thanks :)

What I’m currently missing is a simple app for keeping contacts synced between my android phone and Linux desktop.

Excited to see what you do!

Yeah I know what you mean. Map downloads especially can take up a lot of space/take a lot of mobile data to download. I tried to copy them across manually once but it didn’t work.

Organic Maps is definitely easier to use, especially for new users but OsmAnd is more powerful. I have both and they’re awesome.

I know this isn’t directly answering your question and that lots of people will disagree with me on this but unfortunately I think the best option at the moment is to just not let kids go online. The supposed social and educational benefits and the relief from peer pressure/FOMO just don’t justify the damage to their future mental health and understanding of identity.

I’m not personally confronted by this yet because mine are still too young, so take my view for what it is.

I’m a millennial and remember a few kids when I was growing up who didn’t have a TV because their parents weren’t comfortable with the brainrot, even back then. That was thirty years ago and those kids are now successful and confident people, living full lives. And nobody even really noticed at the time that they were the odd ones out because they didn’t watch TV. They are more ‘functional’ than the rest of us.

Things are way more intense now. The people who work for social media companies won’t let their kids on it, which I think says it all.

It’s a shame that the internet as a whole has become what it is because it has/had a lot of positive potential. But even the more ethical and neutral parts of it get infected by the pathological culture and addictive format that has emerged from it. Just look at the judgement and antagonism that you often see here on Lemmy for example. Not to mention the loneliness.

Personally, right now, I would look for a solution that isn’t a smartphone but that’s just me.

I can’t imagine any messenger is private if you invite random people into a group chat 🤦‍♂️

Another option for some Kobos is Inkbox/QuillOS. It’s a full open source OS replacement and is very cool. It was very usable last summer when I tried it out on my Kobo Clara HD and is probably even better now.

I think AI has mostly been about luring investors into pumping up share prices rather than offering something of genuine value to consumers.

Some people are gonna lose a lot of other people’s money over it.